NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
the process Jeannie expresses her satisfaction in a 
multitude of sounds. The avérage total per week 
is six shillings, and as we have had the ratel for a 
period of four years this means we have acquired 
the sum of about £60. With this money we have 
been enabled not only to feed Jeannie but all the 
other live creatures in the museum, and even to 
have a small balance with which to buy sundry 
live snakes, &c. ‘Therefore Jeannie is not only self- 
supporting, but actually finds the coin for the 
purchase of food for a variety of animals. 
The ratel in captivity at first is inclined to sleep 
during the daytime, but after a month or two it 
changes its habits and becomes lively and ener- 
getic throughout the day. In captivity ratels will 
thrive on fresh meat supplemented by fruit, rats, 
mice, and some honeycomb occasionally. Fresh 
meat and bananas is the chief food of the two which 
1 have. On a diet of meat only they are apt to 
have seizures similar to epileptic fits. Our old friend 
Jeannie got fits nearly every day for a week, and 
on inquiry I found that the caretaker had been 
feeding her exclusively on raw meat. When fruit 
was added to this diet she completely recovered. 
Several ratels placed in the same cage together 
agree all right. At first the new arrival is some- 
what teased, and is-apt to resent it in a surly way, 
but soon becomes friendly, and enters with the 
greatest of zest into all the games and gambols, 
for ratels are as playful as monkeys—in fact far 
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